Destiny
by DramaLexy
Summary: Is there really such a thing as fate? Kara
1. Prologue

**TITLE**: Destiny

**AUTHOR**: DramaLexy

**DISCLAIMER**: me no own, you no sue

**SUMMARY**: Is there really such a thing as fate? Kara/Lee pairing

**DISTRIBUTION**: sure, if you want it, just let me know where so I can come and visit

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**: Okay, my third attempt at a BSG fic; hopefully I'm getting better at them. I'm making up a lot of the pre-series history as I go along; don't take it for scripture.

This is set after episode 8, so anything before that is fair game as far as spoilers. I couldn't resist checking out spoilers for the rest of the season, but I'm doing my very, very best to steer clear of anything related to episodes 9 to 13 in this story, so if you haven't seen them, I won't ruin anything.

What else…thoughts are in _italics._ And I love feedback. I've tried to incorporate any constructive criticisms that I've received in reviews for my previous stories. Let me know if it's working.

* * *

"Do you believe in destiny?" 

Lee Adama looked up from his plate, a fork halfway to his mouth. "That's pretty heavy stuff for dinner conversation, don't you think?"

Kara Thrace shrugged, sitting across from him at a table in the officer's mess on Galactica. "It's not like the food is actually edible," she pointed out as she pushed an unidentifiable glob of something that was supposed be a vegetable across her plate.

Lee put down his fork, sitting back to look at her. "Destiny? As in there's a prewritten plan that we all have no choice but to follow?"

"Yeah. Do you think it exists?"

"Not a chance. There's no way that any kind of higher power would pre-plan the slaughter of 99.9999 percent of the human race."

"At least not the higher powers we pray to," Kara muttered. That comment earned her another curious look.

"Why?" Lee asked. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," she finally replied. "Forget I said anything. You want the rest of this?" She offered her plate.

"Just eat it. You don't want to end up in the Life Station again, do you?" A smile crossed his face as Kara began forcing herself to eat. She definitely wasn't going back to the Life Station.

* * *

TBC… 


	2. One

Living in as close of quarters as the Galactica's crew did, it wasn't easy to get much privacy. Lee considered himself lucky – being CAG, he got his own room/office separated from the rest of the pilots' racks, and even though the sleeping area wasn't much bigger than a shoebox, it was still something that he didn't have to share.

There was a small box he kept under his bed, one of the few personal possessions he had left. On random nights, when his mind was too busy to let him sleep, he would pull it out and go through the contents. A couple pictures: him and his mother, him and Zak, the brothers and their father. It was always 'the boys' and Adama; Lee didn't remember much at all about his father from before Zak was born. He had always been shipboard, leaving Caroline Adama to deal with the house and their toddler son. Maybe, unconsciously, that was why he'd loved Zak so much – his little brother had made them a real family. By the time her second child had arrived, their mother had insisted that her husband stay planet-side for a year straight.

Lee hadn't had much time to think about his mother in the past few weeks. She was dead, just like everyone else on Caprica, and he hoped the nuclear blasts had been a quick surprise. Before the war, it had been far too long since he'd seen her – just like his father, Lee let his career sweep him away. His heart skipped a beat when he realized how difficult it was to pull up a memory of how she'd looked the last time he'd visited, and he took special care in putting his pictures of her aside.

Under the family pictures and other little tokens, like his Academy ring, was a pair of dog tags that had once belonged to Zak Adama. Lee didn't remember how they'd wound up in his possession. Once upon a time, he'd considered giving them to Kara, but hadn't been able to part with the plates of metal. He put his box down and considered the tags in his hand. They'd been scorched by the fire, but were more resilient than their original owner. Lee wasn't sure what he believed in anymore, but if there really were Gods and an afterlife, he hoped his brother was watching over him.

* * *

Kara wasn't having much luck getting to sleep, either. She'd been lying on her rack for nearly an hour, her mind racing faster than a Mark VII. She'd seen a lot of people die in the past few weeks, far too many people. Pilots that she played cards with on a regular basis, crewmen that kept her in the air, people that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And that was just on Galactica. Usually she did her best to try not to think about what the last day on Caprica must have been like. So many men, women, and oh, Gods, the children…

Like Lee had said, only a miniscule fraction of humanity was left after that one absolutely horrific day, so why was her mind so consumed by the death of one of the things that had made it happen? Cylons were just machines – walking, talking, genocidal machines – but the image of seeing Leoben blown out the airlock was keeping her from getting some much-needed sleep.

_"I know you, you're damaged. You were born to a woman who believed that suffering was good for the soul, so you suffered. Life is a testament to pain, injuries, accidents. Some inflicted upon others, some inflicted upon yourself. Surrounds you like a bubble."_

Kara got out of bed, grabbing the cane that made walking a little easier and heading out of the bunkroom. She'd buy the fact that Leoben had heard her call sign over the wireless, and it was highly probable that all his talk about destinies had been just that – talk. But this…either she was a lot easier to read than she thought she was, or he somehow knew way more about her past than even the Adamas did.

Everyone knew she was an orphan, they just didn't know how she wound up that way, and she hadn't ever offered to share. She hadn't thought about her mother in years, her father in even longer. They'd begun fading from her memory long ago. Her mother hadn't actually wanted children, but her father had, and so there she was. It was too bad her father died before her third birthday. Kara only had once concrete memory of him: the smell of the stogies he used to like as she climbed on his lap for a story before bed. Her mother had never been the same after his passing, believed that her husband's death was a punishment. Sometimes it was her own fault, and sometimes it was Kara's. She still had a few scars leftover – some visible, some not – to prove it.

"What are you doing up this late, Lieutenant?" she was brought out of her thoughts by a familiar voice, and Lee fell into step beside her.

"Couldn't sleep," she replied. "What are you doing up, Captain?"

"Same." They continued a little further in silence, just comfortable with each other's presence.

"You up for a game of pyramid?" Kara asked, a grin crossing her face. Lee rolled his eyes.

"Why do you get such a thrill out of beating me when you've already said more than once that I'm the worst player you've ever seen?"

She shrugged. "I'm too exhausted for anything more than easy prey."

"Then go to sleep."

"Seems like that's easier said than done for both of us."

Lee sighed. "All right, one game."

They were still sitting together at a table in the mess hall, playing and talking, when the early shift pilots started trickling in to get breakfast.

* * *

There was nothing that Kara would have liked more than to make Lee's job of filling out the flight roster easier by adding herself back to the active duty list. The ship's doctor, however, didn't seem to share her eagerness. It was remarkable, according to him, what she'd been able to pull off in only a couple weeks, but she still wasn't up to 100, and he didn't want to risk anything happening if they were to put her in a fighter. More than once, she'd reminded him that she'd been able to fly her Raider home with her knee held together by tape, but it didn't seem to make much of a difference. And as the days started to go by, she quickly went from anxious to annoyed.

"What the hell did the leg press do to you?" Lee asked as he found her in the training room, working the machine hard enough that the weights could be heard clanging in the corridor.

"Frak off," she shot back.

Normally, Lee would have chosen that moment as the time to find a more private location for their conversation. He didn't mind being the one she let steam off at, as long as she didn't hit him and there weren't any witnesses to cry insubordination. The two of them were already alone in the room, though; Kara had scared everyone else off. In fact, one of those guys she'd run out had been the one to tell Lee where he could find his lead pilot. And so now the fun began.

"Kara, you've got to give yourself time. Nobody said this was going to come easily or instantaneously."

"Easy for you to say – you've got a Viper patrol this afternoon."

"I'd give it to you if I could." That only earned him a glare.

"Do you realize that I have not gone this long without flying since I got my wings?"

"I can appreciate your cabin fever – "

"Cabin fever?" She got up, livid. "I went past cabin fever three days ago. At this point, I'm sorely tempted to take a Viper on a jaunt around the fleet, and it really doesn't matter whether or not they throw me in the brig as soon as I get back. It would be worth it."

"Do me a favor and don't give in to that urge." He noticed her fists clenching. "Hey, I'm just trying to watch out for you."

"Oh, gee, my very own prince."

"Look, Kara, it's not like my days are so great either, okay? Apparently two members of Deck Crew Four entered into a suicide pact together, and it was only by a stroke of luck that one of their other bunk mates found them in time. We've still got sixteen more fighters than healthy pilots, and are trying to figure out how to finish training the rest of your students in between all the shifts that everyone's already pulling. So you getting back in the cockpit would be just as good for my sanity as it would be for yours, but it doesn't look like that's going to be happening for another week or more."

"Frak that!" she told him. "I'm not waiting that long."

"You're waiting however long the doc says you're waiting. That should be common sense; do I need to make it an order as well, Lieutenant?" They were right in each other's faces; Lee was one of the last guys left on Galactica that wasn't afraid to go toe-to-toe with the infamous Starbuck.

"You're trying to get me to hit you, aren't you?" she asked through clenched teeth.

"You're not going to hit me."

"Keep talking, flyboy." Lee saw her arm start to move, and instantly grabbed her wrist to stop her. A jolt like an electric shock ran through both of them as their skin touched, and it was hard to tell which one was more surprised when their lips made contact a moment later. Underneath the shock, there was something about that kiss that was just so comforting, so…

Familiar, Kara realized. That was the word that was trying to evade her mind's grasp: familiar. And then it registered why. _Oh, frak…_

They both pulled back at the same moment, a couple quick steps putting even more distance between them. Their eyes were looking anywhere but each other, and the only thing Lee could think about was the fact that he'd just kissed his brother's fiancée. Yes, Zak was dead, but he was pretty sure that there was still some implicit rule somewhere against kissing your brother's girl.

Kara swallowed hard, reminding herself that it would be helpful to try and get her breathing under control before trying to speak. "That – " she finally managed to choke out. "T-that was…"

"Nothing," Lee answered for her. "I-it was a stupid, crazy – "

"Heat-of-the-moment thing?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Just a really…really stupid reaction. It doesn't mean anything, r-right?"

"Right," she automatically agreed.

"Right…I should get back to the deck; there was a lot of stuff going on…Do me a favor?"

"Mmm?"

"Stay out of trouble. You'll be on the roster as soon as the doc clears you, okay?"

"Fine." And so Lee beat a hasty retreat. Kara sat down on the machine that was behind her; her legs felt shaky, and it wasn't just from the exercise she'd done.

"I just kissed Lee Adama," she couldn't help but whisper aloud. There was a whole list of reasons why this was a very bad situation, and every single one of them was flying around in her head at FTL speeds. She knew that Lee had come up to the training room in order to help her get her head back on straight, but if anything, he'd just made it all worse.

* * *

TBC...

Questions? Comments? Complaints? Hit the blue button! 8-)


	3. Two

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! One little comment I forgot earlier – I can't think of any way to do anything with Leoben's prophecy about finding Kobol without spoiling what's going to happen on the show, so I've just decided to leave that alone. There are people who get paid to write this stuff that can do a lot better of a job than I can.

* * *

It seemed as though Laura Roslin was spending almost as much time on the Galactica as she did on her own ship. After a status briefing on the fleet from various members of the president and the commander's staffs, she turned to Adama, her expression thoughtful. 

"Have you been keeping track of the days?" she asked him. A small smile graced his face.

"With all due respect, Madam President, I haven't really had much time to look at the calendar lately." She just nodded.

"I figured as much…Chloia is coming up." He sighed. It was an old festival, originating on Canceron, celebrating the first sprouts of grain for the year and honoring the eighth Lord of Kobol, Demeter.

"We don't have a crop this year," Adama told her. "In fact, you just heard the same thing I did; we're starting to run low on supplies."

"I know that Commander. But since we've already put a plan in place to find a planet where we can replenish our stores, I thought it might be appropriate to celebrate Chloia once food has been found." He didn't answer. "There isn't much to revel in these days, Commander. We have to take the opportunities when they present themselves."

Adama considered that, and finally nodded. "We'll hold Chloia among the fleet once our supplies have been restocked." Roslin smiled.

"Good."

* * *

Kara was on the hangar deck, looking at a console by the Cylon Raider, trying to analyze the fighter's systems. She'd been starting at the screen for the past two hours and hadn't gotten anywhere. A wrench went skittering across the deck as her frustration peaked. 

"How's it going?"

She turned to see Lieutenant Sharon Valerii approaching, a small smile on her face. "About as good as that looked," she told her friend, pointing to the hand tool.

"What's the problem?"

"This thing's stupid FTL drive. I thought I'd isolated the system, but I guess not." Sharon had a faraway look in her eyes as she studied the Raider, an open hand trailing across towards the helmet-shaped front end.

"You're just trying to power it up?"

"Yeah, why? You got any suggestions?" Kara asked.

She finally snapped out of it. "I don't know. I've got a patrol in ten, but I can look at it later if you want."

Kara shrugged. "I'll figure it out…eventually." Sharon smiled and headed over to the Raptor, where Crashdown was waiting for her.

Across the deck, Kara noticed Lee talking with a couple of other pilots, and looked away on a reflex. It had been two days since their…encounter in the training room, and they hadn't been alone together since. Which was fine; they could still be totally professional on deck, and she didn't feel like making an awkward attempt at pretending what had happened, hadn't. Actually, it almost felt like she was just waiting for it to happen again, like they were opposing magnets that had been put a little too close together and were now pulling each other in.

Tyrol stepped into her field of view, glaring as he held up the tool that she'd earlier thrown. "Friend of yours?" he asked. Kara took the wrench back.

"Sorry."

"Mmm. At least you were aiming low this time."

She smiled sweetly. "See? I do have a pretty good learning curve."

* * *

Once his shift ended, Lee headed up towards the CIC to check in with his father. Adama briefed him on the situation they were running into with supplies. 

"We're running scans of the systems currently within one jump's distance," he informed his son. "If we don't find anything useful, we'll start sending fighters on double-jump missions to do more scanning." Lee sighed.

"I'm not going to lie to you, Sir. I'm already pushing my pilots to the limit just to get the CAP patrols done. We've only got four pilots on standby on the deck each shift. We start putting those pilots out on supply patrols, and we'll wind up in a bad spot if the Cylons decide to come knocking."

Adama nodded. "Well then let's hope our initial scans prove fruitful."

"Yes, Sir."

"One other thing: once we have restocked the freighter ships, the President would like the fleet to celebrate Chloia. She thinks it would improve morale, and I'd have to agree with her there."

"Me, too."

"Pass the word along to your pilots and have the CPOs tell their crews, all right? Maybe that will be some extra motivation."

"Yes, Sir."

* * *

By the end of the week, a planet had been found and the fleet was moving closer to it to enable easier flight patrols of both the civilian ships and the freighters that were being loaded up. Everyone was looking forward to Chloia; all the ships were planning feasts for the occasion, including Galactica. 

Kara had an extra reason to celebrate – she was finally cleared for flight again. Of course, her good mood dissolved when she saw the flight roster.

"You put me on a Raptor patrol?" she demanded of Lee as she came into his office.

"Most people knock, Lieutenant," he told her. She glared, but went back into the hall and knocked on his door. It was one of the most basic, if unwritten, rules of conduct on the ship. "Yeah?"

"Why the frak did you put me on a Raptor patrol?" Kara asked as she came back inside.

"I told you I'd put you on the schedule as soon as you were clear."

"Yeah, I know, and maybe you haven't noticed, Lee, but I'm a Viper pilot."

"The flight rosters were already made up for this week, Lieutenant, and I wasn't going to start messing around with them now. Right now, we need Raptors planet-side to help with the freighter loading. I assumed you'd prefer it to no flight at all, but I can keep you grounded for the rest of the week if that's what you want." Kara glared, but didn't say a word. "I'll put you in the Viper rotation next week," Lee promised her. "Dismissed."

* * *

Some of the science minds that were among Galactica's fleet decided to use Chloia as an occasion to work extra hard at pushing their ideas on the survivors' responsibilities to reproduce. Demeter wasn't just the Lord of the fertility of the land, it appeared. Most officials brushed them aside, but as talk about the issue spread through the ships like wildfire, the issue of military fraternization policies was once again brought up on Galactica. And everyone was talking. 

"Depending upon who you listen to," one of the crew five Specialists, Jared Camps, told two fellow crewmen as they all worked together on a Viper, "The male to female ratio in the fleet is somewhere between three-to-one and five-to-one." One of the other guys, Mike Kimmett, whistled.

"I don't particularly care for those kinds of odds," he stated.

"Like you had a chance anyway," the third crewman, Greg Sleegan, told him with a laugh. Kimmett mock-punched his friend.

"Jeez, how many of you guys does it take to fix one coolant line?" Cally asked as she stood below them. Deciding to give her a hard time, Camps did a quick head count.

"Apparently three," he called down to her. "Why? Whatcha need?"

"I'm supposed to be replacing one of the gyros on that bird over there." She pointed.

"You got this?" Kimmett asked Sleegan. He nodded, so Kimmett and Camps climbed down. The threesome got to work on the gyro, but it wasn't long before the guys' earlier topic was revisited.

"Do you believe the rumors?" Kimmett asked Cally once they brought her up to speed.

"What? That every woman between twenty and thirty five is supposed to have some magic number of kids in order to keep humanity going?" He nodded. "You think they'd exempt people in the military? I mean, on top of the number of pilots and deckhands that would suddenly come off active duty for almost a year, what would they do with that many kids running around a Battlestar?"

"I think that's why the civilian brainiacs are the ones who came up this plan," Camps said. "They don't think in terms of our reality."

"As if it wouldn't be complicated enough just trying to 'color inside the lines' with the fraternization regulations," Kimmett reminded them. "There's no way they could implement those stupid repro policies here." Camps just grinned.

"I don't think those fraternization regs are gonna last another month," he told his friend. "Somebody high enough up the ladder is gonna want to get in the flight suit of somebody else on another rung, and those rules will be out the airlock."

"My bet's on the CAG," Kimmett revealed. "Maybe he'll loosen up a little if he gets some."

Cally rolled her eyes. "How do you ever get any work done? You gossip like grade school girls!"

* * *

Two days later, the freighter ships rejoined the fleet, filled to the brim with enough foodstuffs to keep them going for at least another month. Chloia feasts were supposed to be held on every ship that evening. On Galactica, attendance was 'strongly requested' of everyone not on shift, and they were all supposed to be in dress uniforms. 

"It's nice to put these on for something other than a funeral," Sharon quietly commented as she and Kara got ready in their bunkroom.

"Yeah." Kara had to pull her belt another notch tighter than she'd done at the memorial services a month earlier; that was three extra notches total since the Cylon attack. Apparently the stress and her dislike of the mess hall food were having an effect. She studied her reflection in her locker mirror. Other than a permanent look of fatigue and the fact that her hair was getting past ear-length, she didn't think she looked too different than she had a few months ago. _Same old Starbuck…yeah, right._

"You set?" Sharon asked.

"Yeah, but we've got to make a quick stop first."

"We do?"

* * *

Kara knocked on the hatch that was in front of her, and waited for the reply she would undoubtedly hear from the other side. She pushed the door open, and grinned when she saw Lee inside. His uniform jacket was only halfway buttoned, and he was standing over some last minute files on his desk. 

"How did I know I would still find you here?" she asked.

"W-what are you doing here?"

"You're the only guy I know that has to be persuaded away from paperwork." She stepped into the room, leaving Sharon in the doorway, and reached to button his jacket.

"Kara," Lee said, his tone reprimanding, once his brain had a chance to process what she was doing. "I can fasten my own shirt."

"We're going to be late if you don't hurry up…Sir," she belatedly added, giving him a little grin. "And I hear the food's supposed to actually be fit for human consumption tonight." He straightened the jacket, pinning his Viper wings in the correct position.

"Then lead the way, Lieutenant," he told her.

* * *

"There have been many difficult days, and there will undoubtedly be more to come," Adama told the enlisted personnel and officers gathered in the mess hall. "But for our lives, our health, our futures, we must give the Lords thanks. We will make it through the days ahead, together. Survival is our only option. So say we all." 

"So say we all," everyone else replied, and then they all dug in. Lee had gotten suckered into sitting with Adama, Tigh, and a couple other VIP officers, and Kara gave him a smile of sympathy he caught her eye. Things weren't so uncomfortable between them anymore, as long as they didn't think about the fact that things weren't uncomfortable between them. Putting the kiss behind them seemed to be working.

"So are you in?" Kara turned back to her own table at the sound of Hotdog's voice.

"Huh?" she asked. Her other tablemates – Sharon, Crashdown, Hotdog, and another pilot, call sign Nightsky – all laughed.

"Are you sitting somewhere else in spirit tonight?" Crashdown inquired. She shot him a glare.

"What was the question?"

"We were going to take some food down to the guys that are on shift, once we're finished," Nightsky replied. "You want to help?"

"Yeah, sure. Who got stuck with the short straws?"

"Um…Bandit and Blindman are doing CAP," Sharon told her. "Jammer and Lonestar have the Raptor."

"Hyper, Deadbolt, Greenback, and Ghost are on standby," Hotdog finished. Kara laughed.

"Your Bravo Squadron buddies must have really pissed Lee off last week," she told him. Hyper was the only pilot on shift that was from her squad.

Crashdown nodded. "I think Blindman lived up to his name and blew a few landings. Deadbolt and Greenback apparently got their hands on some ambrosia and wound up enjoying it a little too much."

"Was there any left?" Kara asked. "Or did Tigh snatch it up?"

"I heard the CAG confiscated it," Sharon told her. "Not sure what happened after that."

Kara shrugged. "That might be worth some investigation."

* * *

After the dinner, the pilots got together a bunch of plates and took them to their very appreciative friends on deck. They had to make the four guys on standby promise to leave some stuff for the other four that were out on patrol, but spirits were a lot brighter in the hangar when Kara left than when she'd come in. 

Kara stopped by Lee's office on her way back to the bunkroom. Just as she'd suspected, he was already hunched over paperwork. "Do you know what the words 'off-duty' mean?" she asked as she stepped through the hatch and closed it behind her.

"Once upon a time, I think I did." That made her smile. "Oh, and thanks for bursting my bubble."

Kara looked up, surprised. "What?"

"I told those blockheads down on deck they weren't going to see food until breakfast."

She laughed. "Sorry! You have to let me in on these master plans of yours."

"Mmm. I'll keep that in mind for the future."

"So, I hear those 'blockheads down on deck' managed to find some ambrosia?" Lee gave her a wry smile.

"There're about two mouthfuls left. The bottle's under my bed. I was wondering whether you or the XO would come looking for it first." Kara headed into his room to find the remnants of liquor. When she returned, she was also holding his memento box, which he'd forgotten about at some point and left open.

"What's this?" she asked as she put the box down on his desk.

"Just…what's left of my life on Caprica." Kara held out the bottle, offering him one of the two swallows that were inside. Lee shook his head, so she downed the whole thing.

"Your mom looked a lot different when you were young," she said. "Then again…I suppose anyone would look different when they're not at their child's funeral." Lee slowly nodded. "What else do you have in there?" He hesitated for a moment, and she realized how forward that had been. Lee had always been a pretty introverted person. "You don't have to show me. I'll put it back if you want."

"No, I just…" With a sigh, he pulled out Zak's dog tags and handed them to her. "I was going to give these to you at some point, just…the timing was never right."

Kara sat on the edge of his desk, carefully considering the objects in her hand. After a long moment, she handed them back. "I have pictures, memories…a lot of memories. I don't need…I don't need these to remember him by. And I'm never going to forget Zak, but I need to stop looking back. You can keep them."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah."

Lee put the tags back in the box. "Maybe I'll give them to my dad."

"He'd probably like that."

"Stop looking back, huh?"

"Yeah. I mean…out here, we've barely got time to breathe – "

"Ain't that the truth."

"So spending time looking in the rearview mirror is a luxury we can't afford. We've just gotta try to stay alive long enough to learn from our mistakes." There was a long pause.

"You asked me a question a while ago, and I thought you were nuts."

Kara laughed. "Right, because normally, I'm the poster child for sanity." Lee smiled.

"You asked if believed in destiny."

"Yeah, and you said no."

"Well, I'd like to amend my answer…because I don't know if we would have wound up here on our own."

"Wound up where?" Without a moment's hesitation, he leaned forward and kissed her. And she didn't have time to think about rules and regs or Zak or anything else, because Lee was right there kissing her like she hadn't been kissed in a very long time, driving away the fear, and the hurt, and anything she was feeling other than the warmth that comes from knowing there's someone in your life that cares about you possibly more than you care about yourself.

"Here," he whispered as they finally broke away, their foreheads resting on each other's. "Tell me that that wasn't a mistake."

"It wasn't," she breathed, "But we can't do this."

"I know…but right now, I don't care."

"Besides all our other…issues, you're my CO."

"Not tonight. Tonight, I'm just Lee and you're just Kara. Tonight, we're just us."

"Us…Is this a simple stress reliever, or something more?"

"There's never been anything simple about us, Kara." There was no arguing with that logic, but still…

"We do this now, and what happens in the morning?" she asked. Lee kissed her again.

"In the morning, we'll talk it out…or you can blame it on the ambrosia."

* * *

TBC... 


	4. Three

AN: I just wanted to thank everyone for all the reviews I've been getting. Hopefully I'll get the rest of this posted before Friday's episode, but I'm having an especially hellish week at school (stupid midterms) so that's been slowing me down a little.

Also, I'm keeping this PG-13, so you can all use your imaginations to figure out what happened between the end of the last part and the beginning of this one. ;-)

* * *

When Kara woke up the next morning, it didn't take her long to figure out she wasn't in her rack. The bed was larger, more comfortable, and there wasn't a curtain in front of her face. It did, however, take a moment to remember that she was in Lee's bedroom, and why. She turned over, expecting to see him lying behind her, but she was alone in the room. 

She got out of bed, pulling a blanket around her, and noticed that Lee had carefully laid out her uniform from the previous night on a chair. _He is so anal,_ Kara thought to herself as she pulled on the tank tops and pants before stepping out into Lee's office to find that he was at his desk already.

"You know, you shouldn't let a girl wake up alone in your bed, especially when that's not how she went to sleep," she quipped. Lee smiled as he put his pen down and turned around.

"Sorry," he said. "I had some stuff to take care of, but I didn't want to wake you."

"What time is it?"

"Almost 1000 hours. I got your shift changed to mid for the day, so you've still got a bit of time."

Kara smiled. "The grapevine's going to be working overtime. First I didn't come back to the bunks last night, and now you're changing the schedule around."

"Let them say what they want. It's nothing new."

"Yeah…except that it's true this time." Silence. " Lee?"

"You were right…As much as I hate it, you were right. We can't do this." Kara slowly nodded.

"Yeah…I think this is the first time I've ever wished I wasn't an officer."

"I know what you mean. I never asked to be CAG."

"So now we've just got to forget…pretend that last night didn't happen."

"It happened," he disagreed, still wondering why she was letting him off the hook so easily. "It just can't happen again." Kara's eyes had lost focus as she stared at a place on the wall, and Lee wondered whether or not she really was trying to figure out how to blame it on the two sips of ambrosia she had. _Maybe it really did mean nothing for her. Just scratching an itch._

"I'd better get back to the bunks," Kara finally said, grabbing her uniform jacket. She hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward and kissed him. It was criminal for something that felt that right to be so wrong. "Just wanted to do that one last time," she whispered as they broke apart. "See you on deck, Sir."

* * *

Out on a CAP without any sign of enemy contact, there wasn't a lot to do other than think. And, of course, Kara's mind wandered back to the conversation she'd had with Lee that morning, and then further back to what Leoben Conoy had told her, just over two weeks earlier. 

_"I know you, you're damaged…Life is a testament to pain, injuries, accidents…" _

Kara had wished she was a boy when she was a young child; perhaps that way, she would have been able to take her father's place in her mother's mind. She'd taken scissors to her own hair one day at age six and hadn't let it grow past her ears since. She'd refused to wear dresses or play with dolls or have tea parties. She had a wicked good throwing arm and an even more wicked left hook; the latter got her sent home from school many-a-time. But despite it all, she was still a girl – a weak one, apparently – that needed her mother's schooling in how cruel of a place the world was to little girls. All the 'lessons' had been for her own good, of course, no matter how much they hurt. And Kara had convinced herself that she deserved whatever she got.

_"You wanna believe it because it means that you're bad luck. Like a cancer that needs to be removed. Because you hear her voice every day and you want her to be right." _

Wasn't that why she refused to allow herself to open up, to be loved? Because everyone who loved her ended up dead. Zak was the one that everyone knew about. There'd been a guy in secondary school that had quite literally broken his neck on a motorbike while trying to impress her. And then there was her father, dying in an accident while trying to get his darling child a birthday present. If her mother wasn't right – if the pain didn't make you stronger – then it was all for nothing, and Kara absolutely refused to believe that.

The strength she'd developed over the years had gotten her through the past few months, but she needed Lee too much to let anything happen to him. The realization that she actually loved him had terrified her. If given a choice, she'd definitely rather have him as a friend than a corpse, so as hard as it was, the previous night had to stay a one-time thing.

"So," Sharon's voice came over the wireless system once the communications loop had been closed to exclude the CIC staff, "Apparently there was an empty bed in our bunkroom last night."

"Really?" Phoenix asked from his spot in the second Viper on patrol.

"Mmm-hmm. Another night of playing cards, Starbuck?"

Kara rolled her eyes. "You know, there's nothing stopping me from kicking your ass once we land," she told her friend.

"Sure, there is," Sharon replied. "About fifty witnesses on deck."

"Well then, Crashdown, I suggest you find a way to disable your pilot's wireless set before you guys are involved in a friendly fire accident."

He laughed. "Yes, Sir!"

* * *

That night, Kara looked up from the game of solitary pyramid she was playing in her bunk when Sharon stopped beside her bed. "Hey," she quietly said, not wanting to disturb the pilots that were sleeping, "Can I borrow some shampoo?" 

"Yeah, it's in my locker," Kara told her. However, instead of going to get the bottle, Sharon sat down on her friend's bed.

"I was giving you a hard time this afternoon on CAP, but seriously, where were you last night? You didn't wind up in the brig, did you?"

Kara shook her head. "I was definitely not in the brig."

"So…?"

"None of your business."

" Kara!"

"What?"

Sharon looked around to make sure no one was listening, and then dropped her voice to a whisper. "I was kidding before, but were you really with Lee all night?"

"If you want my shampoo, I suggest that you go and get it."

"Come on, yes or no, and then I'll leave you alone."

Kara heaved a sigh. "Spending the night with my CO would go against the fraternization regs."

"Like you haven't broken every other reg in the code," Sharon said. Kara raised an eyebrow. "Okay, okay, that was a no. Thanks for the shampoo."

* * *

Kara had early shift the next morning, so she definitely didn't get the amount of sleep she'd had the day before. She was going through her morning routine on autopilot – her usual run around Galactica's decks, a 5 minute ration of cold water in the shower, then getting on her flight suit before grabbing a quick breakfast. There was a note for her on her bed when she finished getting dressed: YOU'VE GOT THIS MORNING'S BRIEFING; I'M UP IN CIC. NOTES ARE IN THE READY ROOM. – LEE. She caught Jammer's arm as the other pilot walked by her. 

"You see the CAG drop this off?" she asked him, holding up the note.

"Um, yeah, he was in here a while ago looking for you. I told him you were probably out running."

Kara nodded. "Thanks." So that meant they were avoiding each other now. Lee knew what route she used for her run; if he'd truly wanted to find her, it wouldn't have been difficult. But he hadn't.

"Are you going to get breakfast?" Jammer asked her.

"No, I don't have much of an appetite."

He shrugged. "All right. See you on deck."

* * *

The days were getting longer. Lee knew that wasn't physically possible, but it still felt like extra hours were snuck in somewhere. He worked or flew, possibly remembered to eat, worked more, slept, and then it started all over again. He hadn't realized how isolated he was from his pilots until his link to them was gone – Kara. 

They saw each other on deck sometimes. Exchanged a "Good hunting," and "Yes, Sir," if they actually got within earshot of each other. He could be CAG and she could be Lieutenant, and they were getting quite good at putting on a show for the rest of the officers. But they hadn't been alone in a room together, on-duty or off, since the morning after the Chloia celebration. They didn't have dinner, she didn't kick his ass at cards, and he didn't occasionally fall in step with her for a morning run around the ship. He couldn't. And it was driving him nuts.

Lee looked up from the paperwork he was working on when he heard a knock on his door. "Yeah?" Adama came in the door. Lee was so preoccupied it took him a minute to realize.

"As you were," Adama told his son before he could stand up. "I hear two of your pilots got in a fistfight? How long were you planning on leaving them in the brig?"

"Full sentence. The squadrons have forgotten that they're expendable. They all assume they can get away with anything since I've still got to fill the schedule."

"And can you fill it?"

Lee nodded. "We just got two new pilots from Kara."

"And what if this was Kara?" Adama asked.

"What?"

"What if Kara was the one who'd landed herself in the brig? Would you still be leaving her there?" Lee didn't answer. "What's going on, son?"

"Nothing."

"I know what's happening on my ship. And it worries me when I start to hear that the CAG has become more difficult to deal with than Starbuck."

"I'm fine."

"How many double shifts have you been pulling?"

"You mean there's such a thing as a single shift?" Apollo dryly asked.

"You're not going to be any good to anyone if you burn yourself out."

"I'm all right, Dad, really. I just…there's a lot going on."

Adama nodded. "All right. I'll let you make an example out of your pilots, just…sort things out. I want those pilots coming to you when they can't handle their squadron leader, not the other way around."

"Yes, Sir."

* * *

The addition of a few more pilots to the roster – both from Kara's training and a few coming back from injuries – was letting everyone breathe a little easier. They could have eight people on each shift and have a couple people enjoying previously-unheard-of days off. Everyone's moods were improving. Or at least almost everyone. 

Kara was doing the post-flight after coming in from early shift when she noticed two pilots approaching her, one Alpha Squadron, one Bravo. Their call signs were Track and Torch, but everyone usually called them Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum; they were always found together.

"What's up?" she asked them.

"We, had a request, Sir," Track said. "I've been assigned to mids this week."

"And I've got lates," Torch added. "And we were wondering if we could get switched." He handed her a clipboard with a couple forms.

"I've always been a night owl," Track told her with a shrug. "And he sure isn't, so…"

"Guys, you know the CAG makes the schedules."

"Yeah, we know, we just thought…since all we want to do is switch with each other, we could run it by you and Bravo leader."

Kara shook her head. "CAG makes them, XO approves them, so talk to one of them." Their looks of hesitancy didn't escape her. "Something else going on that I should know about?"

"Well…Sir," Torch nervously began. "We haven't seen you with the CAG much lately, but…he's not exactly been the easiest person to deal with lately."

"It's not his job to be your friend, Lieutenant."

"Yeah," Track agreed, "But he hasn't been himself, either."

Kara rolled her eyes. "Fine, I will run this by the big bad CAG for you, but next time, either take care of it yourselves, or get over it, understood?" They both nodded.

"Yes, Sir."

Under most circumstances, Kara wouldn't have even considered running errands for her pilots, but in all honesty, she hadn't seen Lee much lately and now especially wanted to know what was going on with him.

Keeping their distance from each other had been pretty close to torture. The irony was, it looked like staying away was affecting their jobs more than just giving in to their feelings would. The pilots were definitely aware of the tension between them, and Kara was aware that she probably hadn't been the easiest person to deal with lately (the broken punching bag in the training room was evidence of that) but she'd done her best to keep her temper in check until she was off-duty and alone. Lee would have been proud of her – if he was talking to her.

_Yeah, this definitely isn't working,_ she thought to herself as she headed off the deck and towards Lee's office. _We've gotta find some middle ground or something…anything's got to be better than this._

* * *

TBC... 


	5. Four

Lee looked up from his paperwork at a sound of a knock on his hatch. "Come in." He was surprised to see that Kara was his visitor. "Hey."

"Hi." She handed him a couple forms. "Requests from two of my pilots for shift changes. They just want to swap, so I told them I'd run it by you." Lee nodded, glancing at the papers.

"Yeah, fine. I'll put it on the schedule." Kara nodded. "Why didn't they just come up themselves?"

Kara sighed. "Apparently half the deck is more afraid of your bad side than mine."

Lee leaned back in his seat. "That right?"

"Yeah. And I was wondering what the frak is going on."

"Nothing, Lieutenant. Just…a bad week."

"It's been more than a week…Can we put the rank card away and just talk? We haven't been doing that much lately. I know we're supposed to be keeping our distance, but I've missed having you around as a friend."

Lee sighed, putting down his pen and abandoning the paperwork before him. "Yeah, I know. Same here."

"Okay, we both know this avoiding each other plan obviously isn't working, so what's plan B?"

He offered a small smile. "This was plan B. Plan A's against regulation."

"Fine, then we need plan C."

"Honestly, I don't know if there is one. I'm fine when we're on deck or in the ready room and I'm the CAG and you're the Lieutenant, but when it's just us in a room, and we're just…us…I don't know how to be with you and not be with you."

Kara came around and sat down on the edge of his desk. "We could join half the rest of the crew and start sneaking around."

"No, we can't."

She nodded, looking down. "Yeah. Lords forbid Lee Adama would ever break a rule." His hand covered one of hers, and she got lost in the depths of his blue eyes when she looked up.

"You're the only person I'd ever do it for, and I'd do it in an instant if I thought it would make things any easier, but I don't."

Kara nodded. "Yeah…Is this supposed to get better at some point?"

"Gods, I hope so."

"I should get going." She started to get up, but Lee still had a hand on her arm. He stood as well, and a moment later, his mouth had captured hers in a desperate kiss. Part of her wanted to pull away while she still had some semblance of willpower left, but that part was quickly beat out by the part that wanted it too much to care. The only thing that broke them apart was the sound of Lee's office door slamming shut. They both whirled to see William Adama standing there, his face disturbingly unreadable.

"Sir," Lee choked out, having snapped back into officer mode faster than Kara.

"What was that?" Adama asked. "No, I'm fully aware of what that was, but I'm also aware that you both damn well know better. And especially in front of an open door." Kara was kicking herself; she was the one that had forgotten about the hatch.

"Sir," she also started, knowing she had to be blushing six shades of red. Lee was still holding her wrist, and gave it a squeeze to tell her to stop talking.

"You're right," he told his father. "We do know better, and we agreed it couldn't happen. On-duty, we're both…as professional as we've ever been, but…We didn't plan on this…Sir. We've been trying to put a lid on it; we just haven't been entirely successful."

"It doesn't look like you've been successful at all," Adama retorted. Lee looked away.

"We've been trying to come up with options, Sir," Kara continued. "Avoiding each other hasn't worked, and frankly, in the long run, it's not going to benefit the officers that work under us…But, I had another idea." Adama raised an eyebrow in question. "Request permission to be demoted, Sir?"

"What?"

"If I wasn't squadron leader, there'd be another link between us in the chain of command. Lee wouldn't be my direct superior."

"It's your squadron, Lieutenant," Adama snapped. "Are any of them honestly capable of replacing you as leader?" Kara didn't reply; they both knew the answer was no. "Request denied. I'm not going to start jeopardizing the fleet for your personal lives."

"With all due respect," Lee cut in, "I can't think of any options available that don't run some sort of risk of that. I agree that you can't start moving people around in the chain of command, and I understand the purpose of the fraternization regs – when we still had the Colonies. How many people on this crew do you currently think are sneaking around behind everyone's backs to maintain relationships? They're going to start making mistakes, and we have no idea who's going to wind up paying for them. And if we start busting everyone we catch, the brig's going to get full mighty fast and the deck's going to get mighty empty." Adama didn't answer.

"You can order us to stop seeing each other," Lee continued, "You can put citations in our files, you can throw us in the brig. But in the end…you and I both have already proven the lengths we'll go to for someone we care about – for Kara. There isn't a reprimand in the universe that's going to change that; it's what makes us human. It's what we're out there fighting for every day, what makes us better than the Cylons."

Silence reigned in the office for a long, long minute. Adama finally turned to Kara. "Are on you shift, Lieutenant?"

"No, Sir. I had early today."

He nodded. "Get some food in you, then." Kara wasn't an idiot; that was her cue to get the frak out of the office. She looked to Lee, who nodded, and so headed out the hatch. The younger of the Adama men steeled himself for whatever his father had to say that couldn't be done in Kara's presence.

"How long?" the Commander asked his son, surprising him with his quiet tone.

"The night of the Chloia feast. That was when we figured out that…" he trailed off.

"Do you love her?" It was at that point that Lee realized he was having a conversation with his father, not his commanding officer.

"Yeah, Dad. I know I'm not supposed to, but I do."

Adama slowly nodded. "How many of your subordinates have you chosen not to report for fraternization?"

Lee squared his shoulders. "I exercise my right under Article Twenty-Three…Sir."

* * *

A week later, Lee's morning began with a briefing in the ready room for the early shift pilots. Kara and Sharon were seated together, as usual, the former with a pair of sunglasses perched upon her head. Crashdown, Hyper, Blindman, Frosty, Nightsky, and Phoenix were scattered around the room. Most were discussing the Pyramid game that had been held in the mess hall the night before. Lee didn't even care that he'd lost about 20 credits; he had a patrol that morning and was therefore in a good mood. It was rare that he and one of his squad leaders would be in the air at the same time, but Kara had a training session with her students during early shift.

"Attention on deck!" Crashdown called when he noticed Lee enter the room. All the pilots got to their feet.

"As you were," Lee told them as he stood at the podium. "First off, this morning's CAP: Boomer, Crashdown, and Nightsky; you're up first with me. Everybody keep an eye out for Starbuck's nuggets, just in case any of them wind up wandering off the training course."

"Feel free to steer them back with a few warning shots," Kara wisecracked. "They all know that if I have to go get them, the shots won't be warnings." Everyone laughed.

They ran through the standard pre-flight stuff, and any ship or fleet news that needed passing along. Lee checked the time as they moved to the last item of business; so far they were right on schedule. "One final thing," he told the group as he passed out a few clipboards. "There have been some amendments made to the Military Code of Conduct, all ratified yesterday. Early shift officers and crewmen are the first to see it." He sat back in a chair and watched his pilots' faces as they all read through the documents. Phoenix was the first to put their reactions into words with a quiet,

"Whoa."

The biggest policy change was a removal of the prohibition on officer/enlisted relationships. Instead, they were now held to the same standard as enlisted/enlisted or officer/officer relationships: any appearance of partiality of unfairness required immediate cessation. Chain of command regulations had also been loosened to follow the same criterion.

"I don't believe this," Lee heard Sharon quietly murmur to Kara. He was just waiting for his best friend to get to the last addition: the XO was the one making the final decisions about relationships' appearances.

"Oh, whoa, wait!" Kara exclaimed, and Lee knew she'd found it. "Is this for real?"

"Yeah, Lieutenant, it's real."

She smirked. "May I ask then, Sir, who's got the job of monitoring the XO's appearance of impartiality?" Lee just laughed.

"You can take that one up with the Commander if you'd like. All right, you're all dismissed. Good hunting."

"Oh, boy, time to go find my nuggets," Kara sarcastically said to Sharon as they walked out onto on deck.

She laughed, replying, "Have fun," before heading towards the Raptor that Crashdown was waiting by. Out of the corner of her eye, Sharon noticed Tyrol across the deck. He offered her a small smile, the likes of which she hadn't seen in many weeks. Sharon returned it, and then climbed up into her ship.

* * *

That night, after he'd finished his mountain of paperwork for the day, Lee headed up to his father's office to pay him a visit. "May I interrupt?" Lee asked after entering.

"Any time. Have a seat." He obliged, and Adama noticed the trace of apprehension on his son's face. "What's on your mind?"

"I wanted to give you these," he said, extending his right hand, which was holding Zak's dog tags. Adama took the plates of metal, carefully studying them. "I've had them ever since…I was going to give them to Kara, but she thought giving them to you was a better idea."

Adama nodded. "Thank you," he said, voice thick.

"I also wanted…to thank you. For what you did."

"It wouldn't have happened if there weren't others that felt the same way you did. It was in the interest of what's left of humanity. And those that protect her."

"Still. Thank you."

"All your female pilots should have appointments at the Life Station within the next week to begin injection cycles; you are to take them off active status if they don't attend. Same rules apply for the deck hands."

"Yes, Sir."

"I'm uncertain what the ship reaction is going to be, but I'm sure I don't have to tell you that we can't afford to have any of them out of commission right now."

"I doubt there will be many complaints," Lee assured him. "I think our survival comes before settling down or having children right now. Someday, maybe, but not now."

"No, not now…" Adama smiled at his son. "Though I wouldn't mind getting some grandchildren one day." Lee laughed. He knew that, even more so than the regulation changes, that comment was his father's way of saying that he approved of Lee and Kara. And Adama had no idea how much that meant to his son.

* * *

By 2300 hours, when Kara finally got off of mid shift, she was exhausted. She'd spent early shift training her students – one of them had finally gotten his wings – and then had a CAP on the second shift of the day. She had a two minute hot shower ration waiting for her back in the bunks, and she was planning on taking full advantage of all one hundred and twenty seconds. 

"Welcome back, Lieutenant," she heard a voice say as she stood up in her Viper, and looked to see that Lee was waiting at the bottom of the ladder down from the cockpit.

"Thank you, Sir," she replied. "To what do I owe a visit from the CAG?"

"Actually, it's a visit from a friend. As of about thirty seconds ago, we're both officially off duty. There were some leftovers from dinner; I figured you hadn't eaten all day and might want something."

Kara considered it as she climbed down. "Yeah, I think I'm hungry enough that ship food is actually starting to approach appetizing. I'm debating whether hunger or exhaustion is going to win out, though."

Lee smiled. "Yeah, I figured that part, too. I've got two plates waiting in my office. You can eat and then crash there."

"I was planning on grabbing a shower."

"I do have a bathroom, you know."

"I've gotta get out of this flight suit. And I know you don't have any of my clothes in your room."

"Okay, you've got me there."

Kara laughed. "How about I do my post-flight, go shower, change, and then I'll come over and we can eat?" She couldn't stop the yawn that escaped her mouth at the end of that. Lee looked amused.

"Only if you promise not to fall asleep and stand me up," he said.

"I'll do my very best. I'll see you in about thirty, okay?"

"I'm going to hold you to that."

By the time Kara got out of the shower, she was ranking her mood as an eight on a scale of one to ten. It was probably one of the few times since the attack that she'd gotten above a five.

Opening her locker, she put away her towel, soap, and shampoo. A quick glance around the bunk room told her that everyone else was either asleep or on duty, so she dug through her belongings to find the idols that were hidden at the bottom of her locker.

"Lords of Kobol, hear my prayer," she whispered. "Thank you for the happiness I've been given…and allow me to keep to the path before me. So say I."

* * *

Just about the time that Lee was starting to wonder whether or not Kara really had fallen asleep back at her rack, there was a knock on his hatch. "Sorry," she told him as he let her in. "I…had some things I needed to take care of." He shook his head. 

"Don't worry about it. The food's still warm…sort of."

"I don't think I'm up to dinner, after all," Kara admitted. "But if your offer to crash here still stands…"

Lee smiled. "You know it does."

"Okay. Then I think sleep sounds good."

"Go ahead. I'll be there in a minute." He watched as she disappeared into his bedroom. Lee put the covered dishes from the mess hall aside and looked over a few last reports before switching off his light and heading in to get some sleep himself.

A smile crossed his face as he left the office and saw that Kara was already asleep, curled up in his bed. He hadn't seen her look that peaceful since…he couldn't even remember the last time she seemed that at ease. He took off the standard off-duty shirts he'd been wearing and climbed into bed beside her with just a pair of PT sweatpants on. Kara rolled over, cuddling up against him. Her arms went around his waist, her head resting on his shoulder.

"G'night," she whispered.

"Night, Kara," he replied, dropping a kiss on the top of her head as he held her close, savoring her warmth. "Sweet dreams."

* * *

Thanks for all the reviews; they always make my day. I'll post the epilogue tommorrow probably. I'm playing around with ideas for a sequel; should I do it? 


	6. Epilogue

Lee smiled to himself as he approached the bed that Kara was lying on. She was asleep, a few locks of her hair having fallen in front of her face, and he couldn't remember ever seeing her as being more beautiful. Carefully, not wanting to wake her, he reached for the small bundle in her arms. Her hands reflexively tightened their grip.

"Easy, Kara," he whispered to her. "It's just me; let me take him." Her eyes didn't even flutter open as she allowed him to pick up their six-hour-old son.

Adama was watching the scene from across the small curtained off area in the Life Station, and a smile crossed his face as his son moved toward him, gently cradling his own child, who was also sound asleep. "Dad," Lee quietly said as he gave him the newborn, "I'd like you to meet Zakary William Adama."

It had been a long time since the Commander had held a baby, but it still felt just as good as he'd remembered. "You're going to keep us all on our toes, aren't you?" he asked his grandson. Kara had started to go into premature labor twice, only for Zakary to be born five days late in the end.

Lee's grin widened as he watched them. Zakary had little wisps of brown hair and his father's blue eyes, but other than that, he looked more like his mother. He had apparently inherited Kara's temper as well, and so far she had been the only one to successfully calm him when he cried.

"How is she?" Adama asked his son, tilting his head in Kara's direction. It had taken a long day and a longer night to finally have the baby in their arms.

"Justifiably exhausted," Lee replied, "She fell asleep before Zak did."

"She's all right, though? No problems?"

"No, she'll be okay. Although she swears Zak won't be getting siblings anytime soon."

He chuckled softly. "That doesn't really surprise me…Lords, he looks just like her."

"Yeah, that's what everyone's been saying." Zak's eyes cracked open, and after taking a look around, he started to whimper. "Hey, none of that," Lee told the baby. "Your mom's sleeping, and I think she earned it, don't you? You're going to get me in trouble if you keep that up."

"Like you need his help getting yourself in trouble," a groggy voice came from behind them. Both men turned to see that Kara was awake, if just barely. Lee winced inwardly. He really had hoped they wouldn't wake her; she definitely needed the rest.

"Sorry," he whispered as he went and took her hand. Kara sent him a glare, but it was softened by a still-sleepy smile. Adama kissed his 'daughter's forehead.

"You did good," he told her. "He's beautiful."

Kara's smile widened. "Thank you."

Zak's whimpers were turning into full blown cries, so she reached to take her son from her father-in-law. "Well, I won't intrude any longer on your time together," Adama said after watching the three of them together for a moment.

"Don't worry about it," Lee started, but the older man shook his head.

"Enjoy your family. I need to make sure Paul isn't letting this ship fall apart without me." They all smiled at that. Lee walked with his father out to the hall, and by the time he returned, Kara had quieted Zak.

"It looks like the legendary Starbuck's got the magic touch with more than just fighters," he said with a grin as he sat on the edge of the bed beside her.

"I'm surprised he missed me that fast," she replied.

"Why wouldn't he?" Lee countered. "He's had nine months – and five days – to figure out how incredible of a person his mom is."

"Flattery will not get you out of getting him for middle of the night feedings," Kara declared as she curled up at Lee's side, both of them holding Zak between them. She ran a finger across the baby's chubby little cheek as he yawned; he really was a perfect combination of the two of them. "Despite how long we've been waiting, I still can't believe he's actually here," she whispered.

"I know what you mean."

"I've been so nervous that I wouldn't know what to do, but…I don't know. I saw him, and I wasn't worried anymore. And I'm still trying to figure out how we got here, you know? How we got to a place where things were so good without me screwing it up."

"Hey. You gave up on living life like a wrecking ball a long time ago. We're going to be fine."

Kara nodded, relaxing in his arms. Exhaustion was settling in again. "When you say it, I believe it."

"Good." Quiet fell for a long moment, and Lee was certain that Kara had gone back to sleep. But then,

"So, where's my stogie?" she whispered, a small smile crossing her face even though her eyes were closed. "I know you've got a stash to pass around when you go down to the deck, and don't even think you're gonna get away with not saving one for me."

Lee chuckled. "I've got one saved for you, all right, but you can't have it while you're nursing Zak. Don't worry; I'll keep it safe for you."

"You better," she threatened, her voice barely audible, as she drifted off. Lee just smiled to himself. She should have known by then that he'd do anything for her. They were opposite sides of the same coin, and he couldn't imagine his life without her in it. And now they had Zak, too.

Lee gently took the baby's hand, a smile crossing his face as the tiny appendage gripped his index finger by reflex. He could see their future in his son's eyes, and couldn't wait for it to begin.

* * *

FIN 

I'm working on a sequel, that will be set in the months before and after the epilogue. Hopefully I'll have something with that ready to post this weekend. It'll be a Kara/Lee fic at heart, with Sharon/Tyrol, too, 'cause I've already set stuff up with them in this fic. Anyway, hope you enjoyed, and thanks so much for all the reviews. Any comments that will help make the next story better will be much appreciated.

UPDATE: The sequel to this story is called Chance. I'm also working on a third story in the series, Foreverland.


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